Seneca

Living in Rome under Caligula and later a tutor to Nero, Seneca witnessed the extremes of human behaviour. His shocking and bloodthirsty plays not only reflect a brutal period of history but also show how guilt, sorrow, anger and desire lead individuals to violence. The hero of Hercules Insane saves his own family from slaughter, only to commit further atrocities when he goes mad. The horrifying death of Astyanax is recounted in Trojan Women, and Phaedra deals with forbidden love. In Oedipus a nervous man discovers himself, while Thyestes recounts the bitter family struggle for a crown. Of uncertain authorship, Octavia dramatizes Nero's divorce from his wife and her deportation. The only Latin tragedies to have survived complete, these plays are masterpieces of vibrant, muscular language and psychological insight.

Die Ausgabe enthält Briefe zu folgenden Themen: Wozu Philosophie? / Briefstil und Philosophie / Zeit / Hinwendung zum höchsten Gut / Ratio und Gottesbegriff / Krankheit, Schmerz, Tod und ihre geistige Bewältigung / Freiheit im Angesicht des Todes / Natur- und vernunftgemäßes Leben / Einfluss des Reichens / Abhängigkeit von Materiellem / Abhängigkeit von Fortuna / Kritik am Körperkult und am Sport / Wahre Freude in Abgrenzung gegen Genusssucht / negativer Einfluss der Volksmenge.